Beast Within
by EsKayDee
Summary: A new criminal is making her way on to the streets of Gotham.


In Gotham, it's seldom that a bank should ever rest easily at night. More often than not, there's some form of crime occuring in its dark halls. Whether it be Catwoman, Two-Face, or just petty crook slipping through its security system. However, despite the variety of criminals that stalk these banks at night, one thing that's certain is that they're nearly always human.

This was not the case on one particular night, when the door of the safe was crushed by a large elephant. The beast moved its head from side to side to see the room where the money was stored. It stomped in to the room, dropping a large brown sack on the ground in front of one of the shelves of money.

Its nimble trunk proceeded to remove the cash from its neat stacks on the shelf, dropping sufficient amounts of dough in to the sack.

But it wasn't about to be as easy for the large creature as it seemed. The caped crusader of Gotham had been monitoring the city's streets when he'd heard the sound of the assault on the large vault door. He dropped in to the room through the air duct, but what he found was nothing like what he'd expected.

The elephant was aware of the stranger's presence in the room, and so it topped off the bag with a few more stacks of cash before backing out of the room.

Batman had recovered from the surprise by now. "There's a good boy," he said gently as the creature faced off with him. The elephant stepped toward Batman, who did his best to hold his ground. When the caped crusader would not move, it charged at him. The hero dove out of its path, and the elephant curved toward the glass door, carrying the bag of money with its trunk.

Batman followed it on to the empty street and jumped on to the creature's back, grabbing a firm hold on its head. The elephant reared, trying to shake his hold on it. It tried swinging its trunk at Batman, hitting him with the sack of cash, but the hero pulled out a sharp bat-shaped weapon with which he cut the bag.

The sack dropped to the ground, the money fluttering out of it and on to the pavement. The elephant finally managed to peel him from its back, knocking him on to the road, next to the stolen money. It stomped on the ground indignantly and glanced at the hero, but fled down the street, turning to an alley.

Batman wasn't about to let the stray elephant run loose on the streets of Gotham. He chased after it. But he got a big surprise when he reached the alley.

The elephant had vanished.

What made the situation all the more perplexing was that the alley was a dead end, blocked off by a wooden fence that remained perfectly in tact. The only sign of life was a stray rat or two, which scampered through the dumpster.

* * *

"An elephant robbing a bank?" repeated Alfred. "What a peculiar crime."

"You think that's strange," Bruce Wayne replied as he sat at the computer in the batcave. "There were no signs of forced entry at the bank. The only hole large enough to fit an elephant was the one it made when it stormed through the doors on its way out."

"Then how did it get in to the building?" Alfred asked.

"That's what I want to know."

* * *

The Gotham streets were not safe from crime for long. It was only the next night when a small spider monkey trespassed in a dark museum, climbing between the red lights that would sound the alarm if disturbed. In one hand it held a small sack for the loot it would steal tonight.

The long-limbed monkey scaled a glass case and examined the contents inside. There lay a display of antique necklaces and coins that looked as though they belonged on a pirate ship. The monkey scurried to the end of the counter and retireved a candle stick. It returned to the collection of coins and battered the glass with the metal stick until it shattered.

The furry crook reached through the hole in the glass and picked out the coins with its hand, stashing them in the brown sack. When the case had been emptied of its valuables, the monkey hopped off the counter. The silent alarm would have started ringing the moment the glass was dented, so the thief was now scheduled to make its promt escape. But its eye was caught by a diamond the size of its fist, displayed prominetly in one of the halls.

It paused, looking at the glittering diamond. Finally, it gave in to the temptation, hopping up to the case. It jumped on to the case and inspected the glass container that held the treasure.

The mokey retrieved a coin from the bag it carried and prepared to chip away at the glass. As it held the coin above its head, the shiny golden object was knocked from its hand when it was struck by a bat-shaped projectile.

The spider monkey saw Batman, whose batarang had returned to his hand. The hero launched it again at the peculiar thief, who ducked behind the glass case.

The batarang smashed in to the case, shattering the protective wall of glass. The primate's hand reached up and removed the diamond from its stand, stashing it in the bag. Batman rounded the display case as the spider monkey scurried away from him, sack bouncing behind it.

Batman chased after the monkey as it ran through the halls of the museum. It scampered up a statue of a greek woman, curling around her head. As Batman approached, it used the coins in the bag as projectiles, tossing them at his head. It did little to deter him, and the monkey thought it best to keep the remaining coins rather than waste them on the hero.

With the bag in its hands, it soared through the air from the statue's head to Batman's. He reached for it, and it climbed on to his shoulders and down his chest and around his legs and then back up his cape until Batman didn't know right from left, at which point the monkey returned to the ground, running through the museum.

The pair arrived in the prehistoric area of the museum, whose pride and joy was a complete dinosaur, posed ferociously in the center of the room. The monkey of course found this deceased beast a prime candidate for climbing. The tale served as a suitable ramp, and the spine brought him all the way to the head of the creature, which was just a short distance from the sky light, one of the panels already being open.

The dinosaur's brittle bones wouldn't be capable of supporting Batman's weight, but he fired his grappling gun at the open panel, hooking on to it and pulling the pane of glass shut before the tiny thief could escape. The monkey retailiated by pulling one of Batman's weapons from the brown sack. It seemed the furry creature had sticky fingers even when harrassing the hero, having swiped the thing from his utility belt.

With the sharp weapon in its small hands, the monkey cut one of the wires that kept the dinosaur's skull suspended in the air, the fossil lacking the ability to do so on its own.

With one fewer wires connecting the skull to the ceiling, the skull began to lean dangerously. The monkey approached a second wire, severing the threads. Before the weight of the skull became too much for the final wires to bear, Batman was in their place, taking a firm hold of the dinosaur's skull. His other hand held the rope connected to the grappling hook that was latched to the ceiling.

The hero was now occupied, giving the primate the opportunity to escape. But it simply couldn't resist. It held the stolen weapon to one of the wires supporting the dinosaur's ribcage, and it smiled at the hero whose hand's were full.

"No," Batman responded, shaking his head. "Bad monkey. Bad, bad monkey."

But despite his chidings, the monkey rent the wire before leaping from the prehistoric creature's back. The skeleton tottered dangerously on the remaining wires, with Batman desperately clinging to its head. The bones creaked. Finally, the body fell to the ground with a resounding crash caused by the breaking of historic bones, a cloud of dust flying in to the air. Still, the skull remained vigilantly in place.

* * *

The contents of the bag were poured out on to the cool silvery table. Ancient, golden coins, a few necklaces and rings, and finally the satisfyingly large diamond. A three-fingered hand that more closely resembled a flipper pawed through the items. The hand belonged to the Penguin, the table belonged to his legitimate night club 'The Iceburg Lounge' and the treasures, as of this night, belonged to the woman seated opposite of Penguin.

The woman was young, not yet out of her twenties. Her hair was brown and cut to her ears. There was nothing particularly unique about her appearance, though she was undoubtedly beautiful. She wore a brown trench coat, which gave her appearance the mysterious impression of a private eye. She eyed the Penguin as he assessed the value of the booty she'd stolen that night.

"I don't suppose these came from the museum," the Penguin asked, picking up one of the necklaces. He glanced at the woman. "Nevermind, don't tell me. If I don't know they're stolen goods, no crime has been committed on my part." He continued to examine the items. "Well, the coins can be melted down for the gold, but there aren't very many of them."

"I tried throwing a few of them at Batman to get him off my tail," the woman explained.

The Penguin growled and furrowed his brow in frustration. "I told you not to tell me of your activities," he reminded her. "I think the necklaces will be worth more as they are. As for the diamond... 50K."

"That's an outrage!" the woman exclaimed, slamming her fist on the table. "That's less than half of what the museum paid for it!"

"What can I say? There aren't many buyers willing to pay for a jewel they'll be arrested to posessing. Of course, if you don't like my prices, you can always try to find someone else to sell your goods to. $60,000 for the lot of it. Next time, try stealing something of less significance," he advised.

The chubby man leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. "Now then, two run-ins with Batman in as many days? This isn't like you. For the past 5 years you haven't been witnessed by so much as a security guard."

"What's your point?" asked the woman, her arms crossed, still sore from the poor profit from the night.

"You're getting careless. And worst of all, you're getting ambitious. Stick to the residential neighborhoods. Open apartment windows, houses, mansions if you must. Leave the banks and museums to the big boys."

"What's there to steal in houses? Trinkets, that's all. A jewelry box and a stash of cash. I want the big bucks. Banks, jewelry stores, that's where it's at."

"You're forgetting yourself, Dearie. You aren't capable of professional work yet. Why, I remember when you first started. Bright-eyed, and convinced you were on a noble quest." The Penguin squawked with laughter.

"Yeah, well, things change," the woman responded sourly.

"Your little fundraiser failed, didn't it? But once you got a taste of the dough you could rake in as a burglar, you couldn't stop. Plus, how could you let a unique ability like yours go to waste? Well, you may think you know your way around this business pretty well, but this is Gotham, Sweetie, and you're competing with the big dogs in this town. And where would you be without someone to fence your goods for you?"

"You can save your speeches, Penguin. Just give me the cash and let me get out of here," his friend replied.

"Yes, yes," said the Penguin. He picked up a briefcase and counted out some money from it. "Here it is. Don't spend it all in one place." He passed the money to her over the table, then added, "If you're really eager to start playing the big games, I may be able to set something up for you. I'll contact you, give you the details if I can find anything," he told her.

The woman stood. "I'm looking forward to it," she replied.

* * *

The living quarters of a thief can range from a penthouse apartment richly decorated with trophies from previous stunts, to a run-down warehouse decorated only with boarded-up broken windows and dusty sheets.

The home of the woman with brown hair lay somewhere in between. She was the proud owner of a one-bedroom apartment. The living room held the bare necessities of a living room - a couch, a chair, a painting, a modest television, and a radio.

At this time, the woman was just returning home from her night's work. She opened the door to her quaint home, neglecting to turn on the light. The door shut loudly and she leaned against it, her fingers on her temples. The room was spinning, and she stumbled in to the kitchen, supporting her weight on the counter and opening one of the drawers. Inside was a row of five or so empty syringes, the one on the far left was about half-full of a red liquid.

"Only one left," she muttered to herself. Still, she grabbed the one that contained the red formula. "This should help," she reminded herself, lining the syringe up with one of the veins on her arm. She pierced the needle through her skin and injected the medicine in to her body. Within a few moments, her symptoms ebbed, and she could finally think straight.

She put the empty syringe back in its place and picked up the phone, dialing a number and waiting for the other end to pick up.

"Doctor, I need more medication. I just used the last one."

"Elaine?" asked the man on the other end of the line. "What time is it?" he wondered aloud, having been roused from his sleep.

"Nevermind the time. I need you to make more of the stuff before tomorrow night. I'll pay extra if you can get it to me before then," she told the old man, holding the phone with both of her hands.

"You've used the last batch already?" asked the man. "But it was only a week ago I gave it to you."

"I've needed it. The symptoms have been getting worse. The headaches are splitting. You know I can't go without it."

"I'm worried about you, Elaine. What have you done with your life? You've given up everything you used to be."

"It's far too late to worry about me, Jon," she informed the man. "Look, can you get the stuff to me before tomorrow night or not? I don't want to be without it next time it happens."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll deliver it first thing tomorrow. But go easy on the stuff, Elaine. And please—" But Elaine didn't hear the last thing he was about to say. A glint of light outside caught her eye as a mechanical humming bird darted through the window, the sharp tip aimed at her.

Elaine instinctively swatted at the bird, her hand clenched in to the shape of a paw. The little birdy was knocked out of the air and fell to the ground in front of the sink.

"Elaine? Elaine are you okay?" said the voice on the other end of the line. "What happened?"

Elaine put the receiver to her mouth again. "I'm fine, Jon. Just get the stuff to me, I'll send you the payment." With that, she hung up, crouching in front of the broken bird on her kitchen floor. It held, as she'd realised, a small note. From the Penguin, no doubt.

She pried the note from the humming bird's feet, unrolled it, and proceeded to memorize it word for word.

* * *

Elaine stood under a street lamp at 10:00 the next night, just as the note had directed. The streets were quiet, empty. She didn't know what she was waiting for, until a white limosine pulled around a corner. It stopped in front of her and the widow was rolled down, revealing the Penguin.

"Hop in, Dear," he said to her. She obliged, opening the door and climbing in to the limosine.

The Penguin was not alone. Inside the limosine there were a few cohorts, burly men whose muscles threatened to break the sweaters that concealed them. She took a seat across from the Penguin.

"This is our target," The Penguin informed her, showing her a picture of a high-tech looking building. "This is important, so listen closely. You're the lookout. But don't worry—" he added before she could protest, "you'll get a fair cut of the profits." She seemed tamed. The Penguin pulled the blueprints for the building from a briefcase. "If you see Batman give us a heads up, then tail him. Make sure he doesn't reach the lab, that's where we are. After that, wait in the basement and we'll come by to show you the escape route." He rolled up the blueprints. "Do you think you can remember that?"

Elaine nodded. "I've got it."

"Good. And remember, if you pull this off, I'll have some better jobs lined up for you," the Penguin reminded her. He looked out the window. "Here we are. Do your thing, Doll." At that time, Elaine's body shrunk, her head disappearing in to her coat. The trench coat and boots sat limp where they were until a small mound began moving. The occupants of the car unbuttoned the jacket, revealing a brown owl whose large eyes stared up at them.

"Excellent," cooed the Penguin. The window was unrolled, and Elaine flew from it, soaring high in to the sky.

She watched the building from above, circling it, waiting. She watched the Penguin and his comrades break their way in to the building. It was only a matter of time before Batman would arrive, ahead of the police as usual.

She kept her eyes open wide, keeping the perimeter in her view, scanning the rooftops and the streets. It didn't take long for her to spot a shadowy figure crouching on the roof of one of the buildings. Upon spotting the dark knight, she dove, flying past one of the many windows. Inside was one of the Penguin's men.

"That's the signal, Batman's here," he said in to his walkie talkie.

"We'll wrap it up down here," replied the Penguin. "Get ready to depart."

Outside, Elaine was keeping an eye on Batman. He entered through an open window. She followed him, turning from an owl to a mouse as she did so. Batman ran through the halls of the building, with a white mouse scurrying through the halls behind him.

It occured to Elaine that Batman was nearing the laboratory, where he'd catch the Penguin and the others in the midst of their work. And so the white mouse's fur turned orange, and its body grew, and its tail developed hair, until instead of a mouse, a tiger chased after Batman.

Batman heard the beast's footfalls and turned around just in time to watch it jump on to his chest. He fell to the ground, the animal's paws on his shoulders, but he used the momentum to kick the animal over his head, and he rolled on to his feet.

They squared off in the wide hallway, moving in a counter-clockwise circle. The tiger seemed to intend to finish this off quickly, as she jumped at Batman again. The hero fired ropes at her from his gun. The cords spun in the air, wrapping around the tiger, binding its feet.

Batman brushed off his hands with satisfaction, but the tiger's form began to change. The fur rippled, turning black. The tail shrunk until it had vanished, and the limbs grew in width, the claws retracting and hairless fingers growing. Batman watched the occurence that looked as though it belonged in a sci fi movie.

The arms of the new gorilla were strong enough to break the ropes that bound them. Batman was transfixed by the transmogrification.

"What are you?" he asked aloud, not that he expected the gorilla to answer him. The beast ran at him, and Batman led the thing through the hall, to a large open staircase. Batman lept over the edge, falling through the center of the building. The gorilla jumped over the edge of the balcony, black fur changing to feathers, her arms to wings.

Ropes entangled her body, wrapping around her newly forming wings. She was unable to fly, and she tumbled through the air. Her talons turned to large paws covered with brown fur, and her body grew to the shape of a bear. But the ropes just shifted in the air around her, hanging too loose to break, and as her weight grew her descent accelerated.

She'd hardly finished her transformation in to a bear when she began shrinking, her fur going white, her tail growing long, but without fur. As a mouse, she fell slower, but the ropes still surrounded her and she was not capable of flying. The ground was getting ominously close.

Her body again enlarged, her tail growing the new tan fur that covered her body. The moment she adopted the claws and teeth of a panther, she attacked the ropes around her body, gnawing on them as she plummeted.

Batman grabbed on to the ropes that surrounded her, sticking his hand daringly in to the fray of claws and teeth. His other hand held the gun that had shot a grappling hook in to the air. They came to a sudden halt.

Elaine's tail dangled mere feet from the marble floor of the building's lobby. Her teeth tore the rope that held her and she dropped to the ground, landing on her feet.

The lobby was stylish, built with a theme of blues and silvers, currently lit only by the moon's light that made its way through the silver, shimmering curtains in the two-story windows.

Batman landed on the ground a few feet away. Elaine swatted at him, growling ferociously. Batman pulled his cape in front of himself to protect his flesh from her claws. He tossed a few smoke bombs on the ground between them. A black cloud billowed out of the small balls, blocking her view of Batman. She ran through the cloud to where Batman had been, but soon had exited through the other end, with no Batman to be seen. The cloud behind her was disappating.

A force landed on her back, a rope was wrapped around her mouth. She reared, refusing to allow Batman to incapacitate her that easily. Batman was knocked from her back, and he slid across the slick floor, stopping only when he bumped in to a wall under one of the large windows.

She growled at him, bounding across the floor. Batman lifted his head, pulling the long curtains in front of him as what seemed would be a pathetic shield. Her claws ripped long tears in the fabric easily, but Batman pulled the curtains free from where they hung, the billowy fabric landing on top of the panther like a net.

A resounding explosion, the marble floor was ripped apart, and the windows shattered. A fiery concussion sent the two tangled foes through the air, in to the streets. Elaine's body, wrapped in the drapes, bounced against the pavement until it hit the building across the street. Batman landed a few feet away.

The building was aflame, the pieces of the structure fell to the streets below. As the rubble fell like meteors to the ground, Batman lifted his head. He'd managed to avoid being knocked unconcious in the blast.

He spied the mass of curtains a few feet away from them. The animal inside wasn't moving. The hero crawled to its side, pulling apart the the folds of silver fabric.

Elaine had lost consiousness, and therefore lost her animal form. Another thing she was lacking in was clothes, those having been left in the Penguin's limosine when she'd first transformed in to an owl. The curtains preserved her decency.

* * *

'That bastard!' was Elaine's first thought when she returned to conciousness. "He tricked me! That bird-brain tried to kill me!" she exclaimed aloud, punching the ground she lay on. Her fist met stone, and she only just now examined her surroundings.

She'd been placed in a glass cage, like an animal on display. She was still wrapped in the curtains that had entangled her the night before, but she also wore a blue uniform that looked as though it had been borrowed from Arkham Asylum. Aside from that, it was a size or two too big.

She wasn't left alone for too long. Batman descended one of the long, stone staircases in what must have been the batcave.

"Good morning," he said to her. Elaine stood.

"What do you think you're going to do with me? Let me out of here!" She punched the glass wall that separated her from Batman. "I'll kill you!" she threatened, as though that may give the hero incentive to release her.

"You're going to answer a few questions I have," Batman told her. "Who are you working for?"

Elaine crossed her arms. "I'm not working for anyone, Buddy. I fly solo."

"You weren't the only one in the building last night. While you and I were fighting, someone else was looting the lab and setting those explosives in the basement."

Elaine gritted her teeth. "That rat!" she shouted. "He thinks he can off me that easily. I'll show him—"

"What's his name?" interrupted Batman.

"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?" Elaine retaliated.

"He tried to kill you, he's no friend of yours."

"I'm not about to start squealing to Batman. That guy's mine to deal with."

Batman closed his eyes in frustration as he dealt with the tempramental woman. "What's your name?" he asked her.

"Like I'd tell you," she answered.

"Look," Batman said, his nose just an inch from the glass wall in front of her, "This attitude is not helping you. The longer you keep this up the longer you're going to be down here. Stop playing games and give me some answers."

"This is kidnapping!" Elaine shouted in return, her face equally close to the glass. Were the wall not between them, she would have been able to smell his breath. Of course, were the wall not between them, she'd be at his throat. "I know my rights! I demand you let me out of here! I—" she was interrupted by a jolt of pain in her skull. She screamed and grabbed her head. "You bastard, what did you do?!" she shouted.

But Batman hadn't done anything, and Elaine felt another bombshell of pain in the back of her skull. She screamed once more. "Ohh, not again!" she shouted, kicking the glass wall, bent over and holding her head. "Not now!" Elaine shrieked.

"What's going on?" Batman yelled over her screams. Elaine fell to her knees, a drop of blood fell from her nose.

"It hasn't been this bad before," she cried to herself.

"What's happening?!" Batman shouted, his hands pressed against the glass.

"The doctor," she replied. "Doctor Jon Dirk, tell him I need my medication. Tell him Elaine sent you," she directed.

* * *

It wasn't long after that when Batman arrived at Dr. Dirk's doorstep, a sedated and handcuffed Elaine in his arms.

"Oh my," said Jon.

In Jon's lab, Elaine had been set on a couch after Dr. Dirk had a chance to relieve her suffering with a dose of the medicine. The old man now looked at the screen that showed Elaine's X-ray on it.

"It's as I feared," he said.

"Who is she?" Batman asked the old man from the corner he stood in.

"Her name is Elaine Banks. She and I used to work together, almost 5 years ago. Back then she was very different. Shy, gentle, and a genius to top it off. We were working together, researching the effects animal genes have on human DNA. We thought we would create a super human, you know? But the experiments were failing, and our funders were backing out. We had one last shot to impress them, but the only person we could test the drug on was one of us. I was far too old, but she volunteered. It was risky, we knew that, but she was up to it. The demonstration failed, and our backers backed out.

"But we'd spent far too much time on it already, Elaine wasn't going to give up that easily. She was a determined girl. Soon, she started coming to me with large sums of money, more than a thousand dollars a week. She said she'd found an anonymous donor, and I didn't ask anymore questions. I was a fool, after all. I felt it was far too late in my life for this to fail. But even with the money she came up with, it wasn't enough to maintain the experiments. We had no choice but to discontinue our research.

"I didn't hear from her again for a long time, until she came to me complaining of severe headaches. She admitted to me what she'd done - that she'd continued using her body to experiment, and from the injections she'd been given the ability to alter her form. She assured me there were no dangerous side effects, except that every once in a while, it gave her a headache. I was able to make something to ease the pain, and she paid me for my troubles.

"Since then, she's been coming to me more and more frequently. I kept asking her to allow me to give her a medical check up, but she refused. I've noticed dark changes in her. She's been getting moodier, more violent, not at all like the person she was before. Now that I look at this X-ray, I see it's just what I feared. Her body can't take the strain of all the changes. It's getting weaker. Her organs aren't able to function properly, and her bones are getting frail. The worst of it is here, in her head."

Dr. Dirk pointed at the screen, where the X-ray of Elaine's head was displayed. "It seems that as she abuses her ability, she's been becoming more and more like an animal. She's losing the parts of her mind that make her human. Her rational thought. She's relying more and more on animalistic instincts. I don't know what's going to kill her first - her behavoir, or an internal failure." The doctor glanced at the syringes of medication on the table beside him. "This stuff is the only thing keeping her human. If she doesn't get it, she loses control and goes on a wild, violent rampage."

Elaine sat up, her cuffed hands resting in her lap. She'd been awake for quite a while, and had heard the doctor telling Batman her story. She refused to look at either one of them.

"Jon..." she said in a quiet voice. "Don't go spilling other people's secrets." Elaine stood warily on her bare feet. She looked so frail in that pale blue uniform. Until legs bulged, her bare feet growing brown fur and claws, a pair of ears sprouting from her head.

Batman pressed a button on a control he held in his hand, and bolts of lighting danced around the handcuffs on Elaine's wrist. The electricity surged up her arms and in to her body, lighting the room. Elaine screamed and fell to her knees, the fur disappearing from her skin.

The doctor took a step toward the girl, but Batman held his arm out.

"She's fine," Batman assured the scientist. The dark knight strode toward Elaine, who kneeled on the ground. "Who have you been working for?" he asked firmly.

The woman muttered something unintelligible. Batman lowered his head.

"Louder," he directed.

"Don't treat me like an animal, Batman. And don't give me your pity, Jon. I chose this life for myself." Elaine's leg slid out from underneath her and stretched above her head. It knocked Batman's remote control from his hand. The item flew in to the air as if in slow motion. Elaine lept through the air after it, catching the device in her mouth. She bit down hard, crushing the metal case and breaking the electronics inside.

Batman elbowed her in the chest, and she flew in to the wall, shards of metal falling from her mouth. She spit out the stubborn pieces who had tried to find a home behind her lip.

"Go easy on her, Batman!" said Dr. Dirk. "Her body isn't up to this," he reminded the hero. Batman didn't acknowledge the advice, so it was impossible to tell if he would keep it in mind or disregard it.

Elaine ran at Batman, her hands still cuffed. She dodged a high kick when she swerved to her left, and she jabbed her elbow in his side as she ran past him. Batman revolved to face her, but she kicked him in the jaw. He grabbed her leg and flung her against a wall. She wiped a trickle of blood from her mouth with the back of her hand, and pulled herself back to her feet.

Again she darted at the hero, this time leaping in to the air before she was within arm's reach. She landed behind the dark knight, the chain of her handcuffs around his neck, and she pulled tight, cutting off his air supply. She tried bashing his head in to a table, but the man managed to grab her shirt collar, throwing her off his back.

Elaine slid on the ground, rolling to her feet. She picked up a chair, and launched it at the small window in one of the walls. The glass shattered. Her form changed, the wrists and fingers turning in to the tip of a wing. Her new body slid easily through the collar of her shirt. The handcuffs fell uselessly to the ground as Elaine took flight, not neglecting to swipe the syringes of medicine from the table before she departed.

* * *

Elaine had one destination on her mind. The Iceberg Lounge. The Penguin was going to get a nasty surprise from a ghost tonight.

The club was closed as the night was pressed for time, but Elaine was aware of how late the Penguin remained after hours. A kitchen window was open, so she flew in, dropping the syringes on the counter. As she landed, her feathers disappeared, being replaced by shaggy gray fur, and her beak formed the muzzle of a wolf.

The door to the hall was open, and she sniffed the air through the gap in the doorway. There was only one man in the hall, and he was sweaty. Probably new. She stuck her head in to the hall, eyeing the tall, slim man in his trench coat. He was facing the other way, and she padded quietly toward him, emitting a low growl when she was just a few feet away.

The man heard her, ever so slowly turning his head to see what had made the noise. When his head had finally turned, she was half way between being a wolf and a large bear. The sight frightened the poor man so much he didn't have time to scream before he fainted.

Elaine, human and naked, bent down over the man and stole his coat.

* * *

It didn't take long for Batman to find Elaine's apartment. She was listed in the phone book. He currently looked through the place with his flashlight, looking for clues for who the woman was working for. He lifted the lid of the small, kitchen trash can and reashed inside for the peculiar item that lay inside. In his hand he held a broken, mechanical hummingbird.

* * *

"Pleasure doing business with you," Penguin was saying to someone who no doubt had just given the Penguin a few recently stolen goods. Elaine crouched down next to the railing upstairs, where she could watch the Penguin from the shadows. She waited for the thief and his friends to leave.

"Well that's it for the night, girls. Go ahead and clock out," he instructed. His three beautiful assistants left the room. Elaine was free to be alone with the Penguin.

"You made a mistake, Penguin," she told him in a low growl. Her voice echoed throughout the room. The Penguin paused.

"Who's there?" he called.

"Do you want to know what that mistake was?" she asked. She lept from the balcony, landing in a crouch on the cold floor below. "You didn't finish me all the way."

"Elaine," The Penguin replied as if he'd just met an old friend. "So happy to see you again." He laughed nervously, but his airs of laissez faire was replaced by anger. "Why weren't you in the basement?"

"Bat problems," she explained, walking toward him.

"You were a risk to my operations, Elaine. Your reckless behavoir was going to get me caught. I had no other choice, if you were interrogated—"

"I don't squawk, Penguin," Elaine assured him.

"Well it's a funny thing about mistakes, you know. They can be fixed." He pointed his umbrella at her, the tip opened up. "This time I'll make sure you're dead." The umbrella fired a string of bullets at Elaine, but they merely made a line in the wall behind her as she ran to her right.

Elaine's body grew, and she began running on all fours. The coat she wore tore as her frame got larger, a ripple of white fur sprouted from her skin as she lumbered across the lounge floor. Just as she'd completed her transformation in to a polar bear, the Penguin's umbrella ran out of bullets.

Elaine ambled at the villain, knocking any unforunate tables in her path out of her way. He attempted to hide beneath one of them, but with one swipe of her massive arm, the poor piece of furniture flew across the room.

The man cowered. "P-please, Elaine—" His snazzy little top hat was knocked from his head. "—Miss Elaine," he corrected. "Can't we just talk this out?" Her claws tore at his jacket, ripping the fine threads to shreds. "I'm sure we can work this out like decent, civilised people."

Elaine's response was to roar ferociously in his face. She stood on her hind legs, her paw raised above her head for the kill. She was just moments from wiping the Penguin out of existence when the most ferocious pain she'd felt yet struck the back of her head.

The mighty animal fell to the floor, her paws desperately covering her skull, almost trying to extract the pain from her head with her claws. The Penguin took advantage of this advancement. The open end of the umbrella was replaced with a blade which he threw at the ceiling. It severed the chain supporting the chandelier, which came crashing down upon Elaine.

She was nearly flattened under its weight. She clung to her conciousness, fueled by her hatred toward Penguin and her desire to kill him. But she was pinned.

The man straightened himself up, dusting off his jacket and returning his hat to its rightful place. He held the blade pointed between her eyes.

"I'll use your skin as a rug in front of my fireplace," he threatened, raising the umbrella. "I'll mount your head on my wall. I bid you adieu!" As he swung the blade at the helpless animal, the weapon was knocked from his hands by a mysterious black object. He traced the interruption to its source. "Batman!" he exclaimed.

"The gig's up, Penguin," the hero said. "I know all about your latest activities. Why don't you come quietly," Batman suggested.

"You don't have any proof!" The Penguin accused. "You're lying!" But the criminal was clearly frightened at the prospect of his lavish lifestyle once again being stripped from him, replaced with bars and stripes. He backed away from the hero.

Elaine's body was crushed and broken. She attempted to change her form, but the broken bones trying to figure out where to go caused immense pain. Were she human, she'd have shrieked. But she tried again, and despite the pain it caused her, she pushed through the transformation in to a mountain lion, whose body was much smaller and was capable of slipping out from under the chandelier that was as broken as she.

Even as a feline her limbs were broken. But the worst of it was in her head, the pain throbbing, piercing, unbearable. As Batman and the Penguin fought, she dragged her body across the cold floor, inch by inch, until she reached the shredded remains of the stolen coat. Inside one of the pockets was a syringe she'd kept with her just in case.

Her paws were incapable of administering the injection and so again she had to change her form to become human. Broken shards of bone tore at her soft insides, and as soon as she developed the vocal cords necessary, she screamed. Tears ran down her cheeks, but her trembling hands clutched the syringe, and lined it up with her veins. She could feel the animals inside her trying to take control. They wanted to rage and rampage, _she_ wanted to rage and rampage. They roared.

She stuck the sharp tip through her skin and let the medicine soothe them. The throbbing in her skull subsided.

Batman had the Penguin against the rail that separated the lounge floor from the cold waters where the Penguin's vicious pets played. But the Penguin's arm twitched, a knife slid down his sleeve and in to his hand. The weapon slit the fabric on Batman's chest, drawing a line of blood. The hero fell back.

"It occurs to me, Batman," said the Penguin, holding out the dagger, "that if you were to disappear, there'd be no one to connect me to any crimes at all." The Penguin laughed, keeping the dagger pointed threateningly at Batman.

A white mountain goat lept over Batman as he lay on the ground, the goat's head struck Penguin firmly in the chest, sending the villain backwards and over the rail, in to the cold water on the other side. It appeared his little pets were hungry, as he had to immediately cling to a piece of floating ice like a raft in order to stay out of harm's way.

Elaine, the goat, looked fairly satisfied.

* * *

"What's going to happen to her?" Dr. Dirk asked Batman as they observed Elaine through a window of reinforced glass. She was secured to a hospital bed, bound with straps and chains and all sorts of deviced that would shock her if she attempted to transform. At the moment, however, she was sound asleep.

"She said it herself, she chose the life of a criminal. Once she recovers here, they'll probably send her to Arkham," Batman told the doctor.

"She'll never be the same, though," said the doctor with a sigh. "I've gotten a job here so I can try to help Elaine," he informed Batman.

"Then maybe there's hope for her yet."


End file.
